As it happened: Curiosity's Mars landing

The Curiosity rover has started broadcasting from Mars after a successful first-of-its-kind sky crane landing.

The $US2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, featuring a car-sized rover called Curiosity, landed at 3:32pm AEST to an explosion of cheers in the Spaceflight Operations Facility in California.

Curiosity's first low-resolution images from the surface of the red planet have made their way back to Earth, showing the rover sitting on the Martian gravel with the horizon clearly visible in the distance.

NASA's flight crew has now handed over to the ground crew who will conduct the two-year mission to find evidence of past life on the planet.

6:10pm: The last image of the night has been downloaded from Curiosity after a second fly-over from the Odyssey orbiter. The image shows one of the rover's wheels and the lip of Gale crater in the distance. In the days to come Curiosity will broadcast higher resolution images from the surface, including a view of Mount Sharp, where the rover rests at the base.

5:37pm: NASA says the next round of images will be four times the resolution of the first images and the dust covers will be removed from the cameras. The Odyssey orbiter is currently in position to allow NASA to download data from Curiosity. The images are used to see if the rover is in a safe position.

5:20pm: In case you missed it, here is the moment mission control got word of the successful landing:

5:08pm:More pictures from the red planet's surface are expected when NASA regains contact with Curiosity as the observer orbiter moves into position in about 25 minutes. The first images from the planet are taken in low resolution from beneath dust covers. High resolution images will only be made when NASA is sure the cameras will not be damaged.

5:00pm: NASA's Richard Cook says the US had a good working relationship with other countries to accomplish the landing.

4:58pm: NASA landing engineer Adam Steltzner says the landing was "good and clean". He says the first image returned from Curiosity shows relatively little dust.

4:53pm: The press conference is opening up the floor for questions.

4:48pm: Earlier, NASA administrator Charlie Bolden said the landing was an amazing achievement:

"Nothing in robotic planetary exploration is harder, more technically challenging or as risky as landing on the surface of Mars. And I know most of you are thinking how can he be saying it, it just looks so easy. Trust me, historically counting all the missions by all countries, the odds of success are about 40 per cent."

4:44pm: NASA's Richard Cook speaks at the press conference: "I've been lucky enough to have done this four times and it never gets old."

4:34pm: US president Barack Obama has taken to Twitter to congratulate the team:

"I congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality." via Twitter

4:25pm: US Obama administration science advisor John Holdren says the landing of Curiosity on Mars was "without a doubt the most challenging feat of robotics" in US history. He also says:

"We are actually the only country that has landed surface landers on any other planet. But this lander is vastly bigger, vastly more capable much more complicated to bring in. Many new technologies had to work in perfect succession and perfect synchronisation for this to happen."

3:51pm:US Obama administration science advisor John Holdren says this mission is a huge step forward for planetary exploration. He says the landing was an "incredible performance" with so many systems working together. The answer to the question of whether there was ever any life on Mars will help explain more about us, he says.

3:49pm:NASA administrator Charles Bolden says "we're on Mars again" and describes being on "pins and needles" during the landing.

3:48pm:The landing caps off about a nine month journey to Mars.

3:37pm: The Spaceflight control room is viewing the first images broadcast by the rover from Mars. The view shows one of the rover's wheels touching the gravel, with the horizon in the distance.

3:32pm: "Touchdown confirmed". The Spaceflight control room explodes in celebration.

3:32pm: The sky crane has started.

3:27pm: The capsule is on its own, with computers guiding its entry. NASA says it is heading directly for its targeted landing site at the foot of Mount Sharp.

3:26pm:The capsule has started entry.

3:23pm: The capsule is three minutes from entry into Mars' atmosphere.

3:20pm: Here is a view from inside mission control at the Spaceflight Operations Facility in Pasadena, California:

3:18pm: NASA says the Mars Science Laboratory is just under six minutes from entry and is travelling at a speed of 5.4 kilometres per second. Everything seems to be going well.

3:15pm: As the final minutes of the landing approach, you can follow along with a live simulation of the landing here

3:09pm: This landing will be more nail-biting than previous Mars missions as NASA is testing out a brand new landing method. Curiosity is much larger and heavier than any of the previous rovers, which used an airbag system to land. Curiosity's size has meant scientists have had to create a new landing method, which they've dubbed sky crane. Here's how it works:

2:58pm: Curiosity is the third generation of Mars rovers. Below is a picture of the rover family. The first generation sibling of Sojourner, which landed in 1997, sits in the bottom left. Next to it is a test rover for twins Spirit and Opportunity, which both landed on Mars in 2004. Finally, the test for Curiosity dwarfs the other rovers:

2:35pm AEST: Welcome to ABC News Online's live coverage of NASA's attempt to land its largest ever robotic rover on Mars. If you're just getting familiar with Curiosity, visit this story for some background or check out our quick factbox: